Nunavut Arctic College students begin to embrace UArctic (Nunatsiaq News)

Nunavut Arctic College students begin to embrace UArctic (Nunatsiaq News)

Wed, Jun 15, 2011

Ten years after its establishment, the University of the Arctic has a
Nunavut graduate in its circumpolar studies program: Leanna Ellsworth,
who now works with the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Ottawa

“I would like to invite my fellow members to join me in
congratulating Leanna for completing this respected international
program,” said Dan Shewchuk, the minister responsible for Nunavut Arctic
College, June 8 in the Nunavut legislature.
This year, Nunavut Arctic College also offered its first online
UArctic circumpolar studies course, “Introduction to the Circumpolar
World.”

“This marks the first time Arctic College has offered a course
entirely on-line through the use of distance technology and the
Internet. Tutoring was provided in both Inuktitut and English,”
Shewchuk said. “This truly is a great achievement for Arctic College and
expands the opportunities available to Nunavummiut. “
Fifteen students from Iqaluit, Ottawa, Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk,
Pangnirtung, Resolute Bay and Rankin Inlet successfully completed the
course. and more courses are planned for this fall, Shewchuk said.

The University of the Arctic is a network of more than 100
universities and colleges involved higher education and research around
the circumpolar world.
UArctic — as it’s often called — also organizes north-to-north
exchange programs with its member institutions, such as Nunavut Arctic
College, which has been a member of UArctic since 2003.
Intended to be a university without walls, offering courses which can
be taught on line, UArctic’s courses are designed for delivery in the
classroom, through intensive semesters of study or via distance-learning
methods.

UArctic’a online circumpolar studies program looks at the lands,
peoples, and issues of the Arctic circumpolar world, with the goal of
preparing students for advanced study and jobs in resource management,
government, engineering and northern tourism.
The 15 modules of its introductory course cover such topics as
traditional and western knowledge systems, geography, northern peoples
and their history, environmental and climate change, economics,
indigenous rights and new political structures, and new forms of
northern co-operation.
Its Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies or BCS is based on a four-year,
120 credit program of study. Students, like Ellsworth, who want to work
towards a BCS study for two years, earning 60 credits at one of the
member institutions such as Nunavut Arctic College.

On May 12 in Nuuk, at the Arctic Council ministerial meeting, Leona
Aglukkaq congratulated UArctic on its 10th anniversary, recognizing “its
contribution in developing specialized education aimed at building
capacity and fostering traditional and scientific knowledge relevant to
Indigenous Peoples, Arctic communities and policy-makers.”
But, at the same time as UArctic celebrates its first decade, there’s
a group in Iqaluit, the Ilitturvik University Society, which wants to
see a “bricks and mortar” university located in Iqaluit.
Admissions would be open to everyone, but with a priority for students from Inuit Nunaat.
The members of the Ilitturvik society hope an Iqaluit-based
university could become a clearinghouse for Nunavut-based scholarship
and activism, and inject an Inuit perspective that’s sometimes ignored
in discussions on Arctic issues such as mining, sovereignty and climate
change.

The university could serve as a home for critical thought in the territory, Kirt Ejesiak, a member of the society, told Nunatsiaq News in an earlier interview.
The university would be a place where academics would have the
freedom to speak out and criticize the Government of Nunavut or regional
Inuit organizations when criticism is needed, he said.

The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is a cooperative network of universities, colleges, research institutes and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North. UArctic builds and strengthens collective resources and collaborative infrastructure that enables member institutions to better serve their constituents and their regions. Through cooperation in education, research and outreach we enhance human capacity in the North, promote viable communities and sustainable economies, and forge global partnerships.